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Luna
Luna, sometimes known as the Moon, is the only natural satellite of Earth, and was the first sight of large-scale colonization. Luna produced many important studies and products for later colonization efforts. Early Colonization The first missions to Luna were manned and unmanned, conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively, in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the Great Strife hampered space exploration, putting a general stop to Lunar exploration. With the signing of the 21st Century Space Accords, Luna came back into interest. The Soviet Union and the European Union created a joint web of survey and communications satellites in high Lunar orbit. This system was completed in 2007, and upgraded in 2014 in anticipation of the first colonies. On April 2nd 2017, China landed 4 colonists, achieving the first permanent space colony, Chang'e. The modules they inhabited were remotely placed a few months beforehand. On May 15th, the United States formed its colony of Eagle. The European Union landed 3 colonists at its colony of Romula on June 2nd 2017. Tsarist Russia's colony of Romanograd was crewed on August 19th, and the Soviet Union's colony of Yurigrad was crewed on October 5th. These colonies continued to slowly grow with new missions. In 2027, Brazil succeeded in forming its own colony, Esperanca, in partnership with the European Union. Despite the slow and steady success of the government colonies, it took many years for fully commercial colonies to develop. Thompson Integrated Systems formed its Horizon colony in 2033. With larger crew capacities came increased growth of the colonies. Luna finally hit a total population of 20,000 in 2050, and by 2055 the continued emigration caused the population to reach the hundreds of thousands. Maturation of Lunar Colonies As Lunar colonies grew in complexity, they began to be universally regarded as true societies. The Lunar colonies, originally designed with multiple redundancies and backup supplies, had begun to slough off their generalized industry in the 2040s, and that trend continued. The Romula-Esperanca railway was completed in 2057, and it set the stage for the general large-scale industrialization of Luna. A Yurigrad-Chang'e railway was begun in 2058, and resulted in a large, temporary surge of European workers into the Soviet and Chinese colonies. By the early 2060s, the largest industrial centers on Luna were Esperanca and Yurigrad. Eagle, being located far from the other colonies, was largely isolated from the first railways, and became a center for scientific research. Lunar culture continued to develop as the population of the moon increased. More small settlements appeared, oftentimes populated by rugged-thinking highly-skilled workers who had gotten fed up of large colony life. The Horizon colony opened its dome in 2063, after having finished initial construction in 2059. Due primarily to this, Eagle became the site of a large silicate manufacturing industry. Margaret Peterson, Chief Officer of TIS' Luna branch, began the practice of floating asteroids into lunar orbit for refining in the now-expanded Lunar factories. With a new stream of raw materials being processed, Luna's population continued to grow. Water from Phobos and Deimos began to supplement the water from Lunar craters and asteroid processing. Due to the low Lunar gravity and radiation exposure, most Lunar governments began to overhaul and rework their medical laws, especially in regards to pregnancy and childhood health in non-government colonies which at that time fell under the jurisdiction of their home nations. With an increasing amount of colonists, Tranquility University was established as a public university by the United States in 2056. The European Union established Sentinel University in Romula in 2058. China established Chang'e Public University in 2059, and the Soviet Union formed Yurigrad College in 2060. Consolidation During the 2030s, most large colonies had transitioned from having commanders to having governmental councils for day-to-day operations. In the 2040s through the 2060s, that trend progressed into most colonies creating their own internal governments, with only tangential representation in their home governments. Lunar money and lunar infrastructure formed the backbone of the system's economy, and with its factories, Luna manufactured the vast majority of ships and specialized products in the system, aside from those manufactured on Earth, for Earth. With this increasing economic independence and self-reliance, the colonies of Luna, many of whom were already semi-autonomous, began to push heavily for full independence. Romula was given a vote in the EU in 2078. Eagle was granted full statehood in 2079. Romanograd was named an Imperial Associate in 2080, giving it de facto independence. Esperanca was named a state in 2083. Yurigrad and Chang'e held out as specially-governed territories for a bit longer, but finally they too moved on. Yurigrad was made an Autonomous Okrug in 2088, and Chang'e was given status as a Special District in 2089.